Performance parts that also increase mpg?

OwenM

OwenM

Joined
Oct 26, 2000
Messages
6,104
I recently bought a low mileage '01 4WD Toyota Tundra, which has a 4.7L V8. I LOVE everything about the truck except the gas mileage.
One of my coworkers had an Airaid intake on an '03 Chevy truck with a 350, and claims to have gotten a 4-7mpg boost in addition to more HP. He tends to exaggerate a bit, though...
Another coworker now has it on his truck (having bought it from guy #1 when he traded his in on a car), but we work different shifts so I haven't had the chance to question him about it.
I'm more interested in the mpg, as the truck has plenty of power.
Regardless, whether it be a Hypertech chip, some Jacobs Electronics stuff, an exhaust or intake mod, I want to hear about it if it could squeeze more mpg out of my truck, which I intend to drive for at least the next 6 or 7 years (really--still have the truck I've been driving the last 6 1/2 years, but plan to give it to my dad, if he wants it).
I average over 600 miles per week, am getting 15mpg, and spend close to $300 per month on gas.
Say I get 300,000 more miles out of the Tundra...even 1mpg comes out to saving 1250 gallons of gas over the long haul.
That's plenty of justification, right there.
I'm really interested in hearing improvements that people have actually gotten, not what an ad claims for a product.
Thanks!
 
First off I am no mechanic, I have a K&N air filter in my 1995 F 150 302 with 160,000 miles on it. Does it help? when I first put it in I swore I could notice some improvement, I was sure of this. Know I don't know if it helps or not. I have heard that these filters actually let more dirt in that keep it out. There again who knows. I think short of chips that change engine settings most this other stuff would have little effect om milage. I belong to the Turbo Diesel Registry and this months magazine article is on Plecebo's This is what they have classified most these add on options. Back to the K&N filter, one thing I know for sure is that it has paid for itself in filter changes. Just clean it and pop it back in!
 
I've modded most of the vehicles I have owned, and the general rule of thumb for me is that aftermarket mods that increase HP/TQ decrease fuel economy, and I'll tell you why - adding that aftermarket intake, or new computer chip, or free-flowing exhaust may increase MPG if you continue to drive in the same manner that you did prior to the installs, but that is difficult to do. The added HP almost invariably urges the driver to push the car a bit more (at least this driver :) ). YMMV.

So yes indeed, those air intakes increase MPG, all other things being equal, but don't expect more than around a 5 MPG increase. Throw an aftermarket free-flowing filter (such as K&N or S&B) in your existing airbox and expect maybe a 1-3 MPG increase. It really depends on the vehicle and how restrictive the factory intake/exhaust and computer programming are.

I had a Superchips module installed on my Ford Lightning and it picked up an easy 25 RWHP/30RWTQ, and I'm sure it got better mileage when I didn't have my foot buried to the firewall...
 
I have an 02 Tundra with the iforce V8 and get around 21 MPG average...

the only things I have changed are the air and feul filters, a K&N high performance on both...

One thing i have found on the Tundra V8 is have the Tranny checkd.. Mine started slipping (under warranty) and i had it looked at and my milage went up severely after that... something about the amount of tourque that that particualr quatrovalve V8 puts out..

Buy yourself a K&N filter and put it in, just dont be alarmed at the noise.. Right before the tranny shifts the engine will sound like it has a turbo whining..:)

I am considering a supercharger on mine when the warranty expires which should both aid in the HP and MPG.. As far as i know anything that will make your engine run smoother or more efficient should help.. i would think that you could pick up the TRD air intake and TRD double headers as well as a double exhaust and take care of most of the bolt on mods for that particular engine..

Don't take my MPG as normal, i have tlaked to a bunch of Toyota Tundra drivers on the Toyota forums and have had results as good as mine and some as low as almost 10 MPG... A lot depends on yoru driving style..

Another thing that helped on my MPG is filling the truck with Premium, I found that it more than made up for the price in the feul AND made the truck much more responsive and smooth...

Hope I could be of some assistance!!

Glad ya like your Tundra as much as I like mine!:)

Alan Folts
 
Thanks for the quick replies:)
doomonyou,
I have a K&N filter in my other truck, but put it in the same week I bought the truck, so really don't know what difference it made. I know I've only bought 1 or 2 air filters in the last 170,000 miles, and that was after seeing the K&N was filthy, and taking it out, but being too lazy to clean it. I actually went 70k before even looking at it. Definitely worth the money.
DB1,
My driving style never changes. I drive the same route every day, at the same speed. Traffic is pretty consistent during the times I go to work, and come home, and I set the cruise control on my "maximum maintainable speed", never going above that, and only slowing down if traffic backs up.
There will be no hotrodding, so the cold air intake sounds like a win/win situation for me. Do I need a freer flowing exhaust to take advantage of the intake? I'm not looking to replace the headers, cats, pipes and mufflers, but can see shelling out for a cat-back system if it'll gain me another mpg or so.
I know what's available, but not what's good/what's not, or how they all work together.
5 mpg sounds incredible. Any particular brand intakes to look at?
So far I've priced K&N, and Injen. Both ~$230.
btw, I'm more interested in getting a better product than a lower price.
Thanks again!
 
Thanks, Alan. I got a good price, and it only has 48k miles. Wonderful truck, and so much nicer to drive than American made trucks-which is a shame. I've owned 8 different vehicles, and they were all Ford/GM/Chrysler products. This Toyota is my first import brand, and it's great.
I have a bumper to bumper 36,000 mile warranty applicable at any Toyota dealership, so maybe I'll have the tranny checked out, as well as getting a new intake (and whatver else I talk myself into).
 
Hey, if my Tundra got 21 mpg, I still would be driving it! Seriously, that's the only reason I got rid of it. I never got better than 17 mpg with mine, and usually closer to 15. Still, that was one smoooooooth running, comfortable truck!
 
OwenM said:
Thanks for the quick replies:)

DB1,
My driving style never changes. I drive the same route every day, at the same speed. Traffic is pretty consistent during the times I go to work, and come home, and I set the cruise control on my "maximum maintainable speed", never going above that, and only slowing down if traffic backs up.
There will be no hotrodding, so the cold air intake sounds like a win/win situation for me. Do I need a freer flowing exhaust to take advantage of the intake? I'm not looking to replace the headers, cats, pipes and mufflers, but can see shelling out for a cat-back system if it'll gain me another mpg or so.
I know what's available, but not what's good/what's not, or how they all work together.
5 mpg sounds incredible. Any particular brand intakes to look at?
So far I've priced K&N, and Injen. Both ~$230.
btw, I'm more interested in getting a better product than a lower price.
Thanks again!
Click to expand...

I got the 5 mpg figure from my experience with a '99 Tahoe I owned, after installing a K&N FIPK. It was a bit pricey as you mentioned, but it paid for itself rather quickly as at the time I was commuting 70 miles per day. I have heard good things about the Airraid systems as well, and they are a bit cheaper than K&N.

The cat-back exhaust can always be done later if you like. I haven't installed one on any of the trucks I have owned but others I know who have say that it does increase MPG a bit, and makes the vehicle sound better :) . It is almost invariable that the OEM exhaust system is going to be more restrictive than a good aftermarket exhaust.
 
I'm no mechanic, but think of it this way. Toyota has massive amounts of money for research and scads of very bright engineers. If they could add a $100 part that would simultaneously increase MPG (increasing sales) and increase horsepower (increasing sales), don't you think they would do it?
 
Performance is a simple matter of get air/fuel in and out (and burned) as fast as possible. Free flowing intake/exhaust parts may help do that but only noticable at almost WOT (wide open throttle). If you are just cruising down the expressway the throttle is just cracked open and there is only so much air that can flow, much less than the standard air filter/exhaust system is fully capable of delivering. You have the extra weight and drag of a 4wd system...

If you are flowing more air, then you are flowing more fuel. ;)

Mileage is affected most (compared between 2 similar vehicles) by the driver if everything else is very close; weight, displacement, gearing...

Here some steps that might get you that extra 1mpg:
Thinner sythetic oil
Sythetic gear lube
check tire pressure every week
Accelerate slowly
use cruise control

Otherwise 15mpg from a 4WD full size is about right.
 
Alan Folts said:
the only things I have changed are the air and feul filters, a K&N high performance on both...
Click to expand...
I ordered a K&N "Fuel Injection Performance Kit", as they call their intakes, just now from a local auto parts store, and they'll have it on Monday from another store that had it in stock. Paid about 40 bucks more than online, but I wanted it now, since I'm going out of town at the end of next week, and will probably put close to 1000 miles on the truck (along with going to work and back 7 more times). Perfect opportunity to see how it affects mpg, and I'll post the results here.
Alan, I did not see any kind of fuel filters in the K&N catalogs or part lists they had. Can you tell me the part #, or where you got yours?
Thanks again.

For the record, I topped off the tank again yesterday:
To work and back 3 times.
232.0 miles
15.2 gallons
15.26 miles per gallon

Good, bad, or indifferent, we'll see what happens...:)
 
FoxholeAtheist said:
I'm no mechanic, but think of it this way. Toyota has massive amounts of money for research and scads of very bright engineers. If they could add a $100 part that would simultaneously increase MPG (increasing sales) and increase horsepower (increasing sales), don't you think they would do it?
Click to expand...

No - they are designing vehicles in a specific range of MPG and HP numbers, for emissions requirements, marketing demographics, and various price-points, amongs others, not just engineering every last drop of HP and MPG increases out of a specific drivetrain. Sure Toyota could create a more fuel efficient, more powerful car, but that's not the whole of the business equation. To that end Toyota has a myriad of additions to their vehicles for improved performance (TRD), installed at the dealer, with a much higher markup than could be had from installing them on the assembly line. I'm not just picking on Toyota - all auto manufacturers leave HP on the table, with very few exceptions.
 
I'm not a mechanic, but I easily could be. I basically fix everything on my car except the tranny, body, and paint. There really aren't too many parts of my car I haven't removed and replaced at least once - I mean I've had it since 1976!

But, my knowledge of modern autos isn't that great - all I know is '65-'73 muscle cars.

Having said that, the best area to gain horsepower and milage is the exhaust. A good set of headers can give you better mileage and power by "tuning" your exhaust. Basically, when 1 slug of exhaust goes out, it can help suck the fuel/air mixture out of the combustion chamber of another cylinder. That way, you can get more fresh fuel and air in, and more more hot exhaust out.

Remember, any motor is basically an air pump. The more fuel and air u can get in and out in a given time, the more powerful the engine will be. That's why you see 4 valves per cylinder, hemi heads, etc.

Hooker headers are good for domestics. Some are ceramic coated to help prevent rust.

Lowering exhaust restriction is good, too. Depending on the size of your engine, you could increase your tailpipe size to 2"-2 1/2".

Of course, you want to get a low restriction muffler, too. Flowmaster are great and sound real mean. Borla mufflers are also excellent, but they aren't cheap.

Ignition wise, a lot of guys run MSD (Multiple Spark Discharge), including me. I can't swear it helps your mileage, though I've been using it since 1979. I run it mainly to keep my plugs from fouling when I'm running my engine rich. It is supposed to help your horsepower and emissions, too, though. It should, since instead of 1 spark per combustion cycle you get THREE. So, you should be able to burn off that fuel-air mixture more completely.
524422_9.jpg

Hey, here you can see the headers. The big red box on the left fender is the MSD box.

Hmm, what else? Keep your tires inflated to their maximum psi. More air pressure means less rolling resistance.

Aerodynamics is important once you go over 35 mph. It you got any trendy wings or spoilers for aerodynamic down force, lose em. They just create extra weight and drag. Try gettin one of those nylon web set-ups to replace your rear tailgate. It will save you both weight and drag.

I read a Hot Rod article where all a guy did was put sheet metal on the bottom of his car to make it smoother. I think he picked up like 2/10 or 3/10 of a second in the quarter mine by doing this.

Only other thing I can think of is fiberglass parts to lower weight. The hood is a good place to start. If you want to be bad ass like the Subaru WRX-STI, you can chuck your radio. Shelby GT-350's didn't even have a back seat installed. I doubt it, but if your car came with cast iron heads and intake manifold like mine, you can replace 'em with aluminum ones. Not cheap, though. But each of my heads weighed almost 100 lbs!!

Oh, Edelbrock used to make a water injection kit. It basically shoots a water alcohol mixture into your intake (for me the carb). It allows you to power time (advance your timing) so your engine can fire at a more advantageous degree of rotation. Some WW2 piston engine fighter like the Folk-Wulf 190 used a setup like this for "War Emergency Power." I don't think you can retrofit it to a fuel injected vehicle, though.

If you have any questions about the crap I went through rather quickly, feel free to ask for a more detailed explanation.

Have fun.

Bruise
 
On my last car I put an underdrive crank pulley on. Basically free power since all you are doing is reducing spinning weight and reducing the diameter of the crank pulley that turns your accs. About 10hp and 10tq. I figure more HP and TQ means lower revs since you dont need to rev higher to go faster with the additional power. Only downside to look out for is that it means less power to the alternator at idle speeds. My headlights would dim slightly at a stop and once or twice at a really long light with the stereo on full blast with my headlights and fogs and turn signal the battery light came on so I just had to give it a little rev. Another help for my car was when I installed a bigger throttle body. Stock was a 52 and the new one was 60mm. It helped throttle response greatly and didn't need to give it so much gas off the line. The only problem with this is that I believe any air involved mod means more gas to be used. More air in, more gas used. Free flowing quality filters help or a complete air intake system. I have an Injen on my current car now, works great and does increase mpg ~2. Love the sound too :D

Keeping the car in good shape is important. Keep an eye on tire pressure from side to side keeping them equal and alignments to help reduce drag. Also make sure to keep your spark plugs clean and gapped right along with good working wires. I've used NGK plugs on my cars and they work great.

They do still make water injection kits for fuel injected cars. HP gains on a NA car are far less than that of a car using FI but in hot temps can help with detonation.
 
Thanks guys!

Bruise Lee,
For the moment, I'm probably am going to get a cat-back system on the exhaust end of things. At least that was the plan.
Not sure about how far I want to take all this, but I found out last night that one of my buddies has a friend who owns a muffler shop, and carries Flowmaster stuff(HaHa!;)). It'll be a couple of weeks before I can make it over there, but I'll be sure ask about headers, too.
 
Alan Folts said:
Buy yourself a K&N filter and put it in, just dont be alarmed at the noise.. Right before the tranny shifts the engine will sound like it has a turbo whining..:)
Click to expand...
Dang thing's pretty loud under hard acceleration. I had to get on it a couple of times just to see. It does sound like a turbo. I can hear it every time I touch the gas (I had the windows down).
I just fueled up again, only 1.8 miles of it with the intake.
252.0 miles
17.1 gallons
14.73 mpg
Man, I hope this thing helps!

btw, anybody who reads this, and thinks about getting aftermarket intake for their vehicle...if you do get one, check the supplied hoses for compatibility with the factory hookups FIRST (installing them is the last step in the instructions). I'm no mechanic, and can't tell you which is which, but the replacement for the largest hose did not match up with the doohickey on my Tundra, though it matches the part on the intake perfectly. I had to take my other truck, and get a connector from the auto parts store, cut the aftermarket hose to length, and connect it to the factory hose. If I didn't have another vehicle, I'd have been pulling everything back out, and putting the factory stuff back in, or walking.
So I have two different size hoses, two hose clamps, and a connector in place of one hose. It doesn't hurt anything, but it doesn't look all that great, either, and I wasn't exactly overwhelmed with joy when I saw the problem.
Maybe this was just a fluke, but I called K&N's tech support, and let them know, so they could look into it.
 
Does your truck have lockout hubs? You can save a lot or power, and make things alot more efficient by unlocking the hubs. That way just the front wheels turn rather than the whole front differential and driveshaft. I know not all trucks are equiped with locking hubs. Some are fixed, some have a vacuum control that does it automatically for you and some you have to get out and turn the knob.
 
powells85 said:
Post a picture.
Click to expand...
Ok. I'll snap a couple of pics when I get home in the morning (working 11-7). I guess you're referring to the hose, but I wish I'd taken before/after pics, anyway.

Matt,
Shift on the fly, just push a button. I have no idea how it all works, or what locks/unlocks, when, or why. This is my first 4x4 so I am still learning.
 
OwenM said:
I found out last night that one of my buddies has a friend who owns a muffler shop, and carries Flowmaster stuff(HaHa!;)). It'll be a couple of weeks before I can make it over there, but I'll be sure ask about headers, too.
Click to expand...
Check out the Flowmaster website. You can download sound files of different engines running different mufflers. Sounds real cool! Just remember, you have to live with that muffler, so what may sound really cool at a stoplight for a minute may be giving you a headache from low frequency vibration a year from now.

Some disadvantages of headers. Increased noise. Spark plugs can become really hard to change depending on your application. The header can hang real low to the ground and bottom out, but since you have a truck ground clearance shouldn't be an issue. Mainly, headers tend to be a real tight fit. I can tell you my steering linkage contacts the headers at full lock. It is also so close to the starter, maybe only 1/8" away, that the heat tends to fry my starter after awhile. And this is on an old car no smog and an engine bay that fits a 460 c.i.d. motor stock. Newer cars are going to be a MUCH tighter fit!

Another thing I thought of is you can change your camshaft. This is probably not something you want to try to do yourself unless you are pretty comfortable around engines. It is doable for a good home mechanic, though.

You can get a camshaft tailored to what kind of driving you want to emphasize. If you want to tow stuff, you can get an RV cam. If you want to race, you can get a cam with so much lift, duration, and overlap that you won't be able to idle under 2500 rpm, and your engine will have so little vacuum that your automatic transmission won't shift properly. I know back when the first Arab Oil embargo hit, cam grinders cam out with mileage cams. I know Edelbrock and other still make claims that their aftermarket cams can give you improved mileage and low end torque. Sorry I don't know who makes good cams for Toyota.

Just keep in mind that a cam is always a compromise. A cam that is good at idle and for mileage is gonna suck at making power at 7,000 RPM. One possible exception to this is Honda's V-TEC engines, which basically have two camshaft profiles. Nice!

The best way to go fast and get good miles per gallon is to ride a motorcycle.

Bruise
 
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